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1974 Canadian Grand Prix
|poletime = 1:13.188 |fastestlap = 1:13.659 |fastestlapdriver = Niki Lauda |fastestlapnation = AUT |fastestlapteam = |fastestlapnumber = 60 |winner = Emerson Fittipaldi |winnernation = BRA-1968 |winnerteam = |second = Clay Regazzoni |secondnation = SUI |secondteam = |third = Ronnie Peterson |thirdnation = SWE |thirdteam = }} The 1974 Canadian Grand Prix, otherwise officially known as the XIV Canadian Grand Prix, was the fourteenth and penultimate round of the 1974 FIA Formula One World Championship, staged at Mosport Park on the 22nd September.'GRAND PRIX RESULTS: CANADIAN GP, 1974', grandprix.com, (Inside F1 Inc., 2015), http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/rr249.html, (Accessed 10/05/2017) The race, which saw a smaller entry list than normal due to the costs of travelling across the Atlantic, would see Niki Lauda's title bid come to a dramatic end while leading in the closing stages. The Austrian racer was among four drivers still in the hunt to win the World Championship, and was only denied pole by less than 0.050s in qualifying. The man to deny him would be another title challenger in the form of Emerson Fittipaldi, while the third pretender Jody Scheckter claimed third. Championship leader Clay Regazzoni, meanwhile, would start from sixth behind Carlos Reutemann and Jean-Pierre Jarier. Despite missing out on pole, there was no stopping the Austrian at the start of the race on Sunday, the #12 duly sprinting into an early lead off the line. Fittipaldi led the charge to catch him from second, while a perfect start for Regazzoni saw him surge into third, ahead of Scheckter who dropped to fourth. The top four began to pull away from the rest of the field, with Scheckter leaping ahead of Regazzoni during the third lap. The Swiss racer then began to fall back from the group, but would be under no threat from fifth placed James Hunt, up from eighth on the grid. Indeed, the top four remained unchanged through to half distance, with Lauda inching ahead of Fittipaldi and Scheckter as the race wore on. Things looked set to go to the wire in the United States with three drivers on 49 points, Lauda on 47, only for things to unravel out front. The first incident removed, Scheckter, a brake failure sending him barrelling into the barriers on lap 49. The South African racer emerged with some bruising but was otherwise fine, as Regazzoni's promotion to third place put the Swiss racer back on top of the Championship standings. Twenty laps later and it was over for Lauda, with the Austrian's Ferrari disappearing into the barriers having led every lap. The Austrian had hit some debris that smashed his suspension, and as he barrelled into the barriers he knew his title fight was over. That left Fittipaldi and Regazzoni out at the head of the field, although the now third placed Ronnie Peterson was catching the pair of them at a rate of knots. Ultimately, time ran out for the Swede, who was a little over a second behind Regazzoni when the Swiss racer crossed the line to claim second. Fittipaldi claimed victory and the lead in the Championship, level on points with Regazzoni with one race to go, while Scheckter slipped to third, seven points behind. Lauda was too far back, fourteen points away from the leading duo with nine left to fight for at the season finale in Watkins Glen. Background The news ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix at Mosport Park was dominated by the decision of the FIA to reverse the exclusion of Niki Lauda at the British Grand Prix.A.H., 'The Canadian Grand Prix: Fittipaldi a worthy first', motorsportmagazine.com, (Motor Sport, 01/11/1974), http://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/november-1974/42/canadian-grand-prix, (Accessed 10/05/2017) Their decision effectively brought Lauda back into the title fight, for he gained two points to move back within nine points of Championship leader Clay Regazzoni. Although there was a lot of muttering about this decision no further protests were raised, meaning it would certainly be a four way fight for the Championship in Canada. Away from the FIA's appeasement of , attention focused on two American "garagista" attempts that made a relatively short hop over the Canadian/American boarder to make their debuts. Both and had enjoyed success at America's biggest race, the Indianapolis 500, and with major financial backing both decided to try their hand in Formula One, using the engine as a basis. The Parnelli VPJ4, to be piloted by the familiar face of Mario Andretti, attracted the most interest having been designed by Maurice Phillipe. The Frenchman's design followed the venerable Lotus 72 as most modern Grand Prix cars did, and sported a strikingly similar rear suspension design to the Lotus 76. Various other elements were borrowed from elsewhere, with aircraft style snap-on joints on most parts, as well as a one-way valve system for the brakes and clutch fluid lines that meant the team did not have to spend time bleeding the system. In contrast, the Penske PC1 provided for Mark Donohue was very conventional, reflecting the design of the British based "garagistas" that had been racing all season. Former designer Geoff Ferris had led the project, and been a big factor in moving the Penske's radiators to the middle of the sidepods. Otherwise the car was best described as a Brabham/Lotus fusion, with elements of both being infused to produce the #66 car on the Canadian grid. Of the British "garagistas", only and made the trip across the Atlantic, although the decision did put both further into their respective financial holes. For Ensign, their yellow-green machine was to be piloted by Mike Wilds, with no significant updates or any spares. James Hunt would pilot the more competitive Hesketh, with a spare brought along in hopes that they could loan it out to a local in either Canada or America. Into the full time efforts and a fairly happy Ferrari team arrived after their disastrous race in Italy, with Lauda and Regazzoni getting three cars for their adventure in North America. Rivals made a change to their line-up, dropping the veteran David Hobbs in favour of free agent Jochen Mass, with the German taking over the Yardley sponsored M23. Title pretender Emerson Fittipaldi and Denny Hulme used the newest of the M23s in Team Texaco Marlboro colours. At it had been decided that the 72E was the car to use until the end of the season, with the team's last two chassis shipped over the Atlantic along with a single 76. Ronnie Peterson was fairly optimistic of a strong end to the season, despite being realistically out of the title fight, while teammate Jacky Ickx seemed a shade of his former self. Arch rivals had also had a reshuffle of their compliment of 007s, with Jody Scheckter getting the newest car, while Patrick Depailler inherited the South African's race winning chassis. Bernie Ecclestone's effort arrived with an advantage in numbers in Canada, with no fewer than six cars and five drivers representing the former Champions. Leading the way were the three works BT44s for Carlos Reutemann and Carlos Pace, backed by the fourth BT44 being run for Hexagon of Highgate racer John Watson. Eppie Wietzes loaned the latter's spare BT42 for the weekend, making his return to Formula One after his appearance at the 1973 Canadian Grand Prix as the driver of the infamous "safety" car. The fifth Brabham peddler would be Ian Ashley, whose BT42 was littered with the Brit's private sponsors. were, in contrast, in a miserable mind ahead of the trip across the Atlantic, reeling in the wake of the complete severing ties with Mass in recent weeks. Derek Bell continued to lead the team on track, backed by Helmuth Koinigg who had impressed in Austria. The future of the team remained in doubt, although John Surtees refused to comment on various rumours circulating the paddock. Attempting to rival the Surtees discontent were , whose terrible 1974 campaign had seen their all French line-up finally broken up. Henri Pescarolo was shown the door after the Italian Grand Prix, while François Migault refused to make the trip at all. That left the team with just a single driver in the form of team leader Jean-Pierre Beltoise, although they quickly secured the services of Chris Amon who had originally made the journey to North America as a spectator. The American licensed, but British built, team were optimistic ahead of their home tour, with Tom Pryce and Jean-Pierre Jarier continuing as their drivers. Frank Williams was happy enough with his pair of Arturo Merzario and Jacques Laffite, although a lack of recent development on the s was cause for concern. completed the field with Graham Hill contemplating his future as a racer, although he would race alongside recent addition Rolf Stommelen. With Championship leader Regazzoni failing to score, victory allowed Peterson to stay in the hunt for the title, although he still needed to win both of the remaining races with the Swiss racer failing to finish above fourth in either. The Swede therefore took over Scheckter's mantle of being the dark horse, for the South African had closed to within a point of Regazzoni after claiming a podium spot, while Fittipaldi moved into third and closed to within three points of the Swiss. Lauda remained eight points back in fourth, and could be the first of the quartet to drop out of the fight if he failed to win in Canada. After their double retirement at their home race, dropped behind rivals in the International Cup for Manufacturers' table, the British squad leaving Monza two points clear of the Italians. slipped slightly further back, now twelve points off the lead with eighteen points left to fight for, meaning they could drop out of the hunt in Canada. could theoretically catch their rivals and claim third, but needed to overcome an eleven point deficit, while had further reinforced their fifth place in the standings. Entry list The full entry list for the is outlined below: Practice Overview Qualifying Practice/qualifying was to be split into four sessions, shared equally across Friday and Saturday afternoons. Weather wise it would be consistently dry across the two days, a surprise given the fact that it was getting towards early autumn in Canada at a circuit which had a history of getting a soaking. As for target times, the circuit record of 1:13.697 set by Ronnie Peterson on his way to pole was seen as a realistic one, particularly as large parts of the circuit had been resurfaced to make it less bumpy. Report Unknown to anyone bar those running the event, the timekeepers decided to use an older set of timing equipment during the first session, which only recorded times to the nearest tenth. This fact almost instantly became an issue during the opening practice/qualifying session of the weekend, as a quick blast by the team saw their two drivers record times within a tenth of each other. Moments later and Clay Regazzoni matched Carlos Reutemann's time, with Niki Lauda, Jody Scheckter and James Hunt all getting close to Carlos Pace's best effort of 1:14.1 before the end of the session. Elsewhere, were left scratching their heads over a terminally wounded engine in Jean-Pierre Jarier's car, which had exploded in the garage, while Chris Amon completed a handful of laps in the before announcing, rather bluntly, that it was undrivable. These, however, were trivial compared to the terrible run Jacky Ickx was enduring at , the Belgian managing to bounce his 72E into the barrier, before a seized break on the 76 left him sat in the garage for most of the day. For the second run on Friday, the timekeepers had wheeled out their electronic timing system, capable of recording times to the nearest thousandth. The improved equipment duly proved its worth during the second session, as Niki Lauda bested the circuit record with a 1:13.624 midway through. Reutemann was next on a 1:13.737, ahead of Regazzoni on a 1:13.801, with the rest of the top drivers plastered in the 1:14.000s. The Ickx situation improved at the end of the day, the Belgian managing to log some meaningful track time in the 76, albeit with a grimace on his face. At , in contrast, it was smiles all round, for Mario Andretti was steadily ramping up the pace and looking promising, ending the day with a 1:15.6. The was marginally slower, Mark Donohue recording a 1:15.731 without any major issues throughout the day. With consistent weather on Saturday there was hope of a general improvement in times and a real fight for pole. These hopes would ultimately become real when Emerson Fittipaldi recorded a 1:13.614 during an early run, although the Brazilian would not improve during the rest of the session. Regazzoni managed to nudge the #5 off the top spot by less than a tenth mid-way through the session, before Lauda set a 1:13.230 to take provisional pole ahead of the final session. At Team Lotus, meanwhile, the problems for Ickx had leaked over to Peterson's side of the garage, with the Swede sitting out most of the session after an oil leak was found on his engine. Ickx himself spent most of the day sat in his cockpit while the car sat in the pitlane, various minor issues needing attention, although he did at least set a time that would be enough for him to qualify for the race. Elsewhere, Donohue's good run on Friday was overshadowed by an issue early on, with the American racer only recording three laps in the Penske before serious attention was required to solve a mystery issue. The final session of the weekend was all about the fight for pole, with Lauda's 1:13.230 in the sights of numerous drivers throughout the afternoon. First to seriously threaten the Austrian was Jody Scheckter, who recorded a 1:13.302 on his best run to just fall shy of the #12 Ferrari. Regazzoni and Lauda responded by going out together, hoping to give each other a tow, although the ploy did not aid either driver's times. That fact opened the door for Fittipaldi, who somehow managed to find himself on an empty circuit in order to record a 1:13.188, denying Lauda a tenth pole of the season in the final moments of the session. Elsewhere, Lotus managed to get Peterson back in action, with the Swede not really having enough time to get among the pole fight, while Ickx spent the rest of practice swapping between two poorly Loti. Donohue did not appear in the final session, but his earlier times were strong enough to see him qualify, while Andretti pushed the Parnelli to a 1:14.923, good enough for sixteenth on the grid. Local racer Eppie Wietzes managed to qualify, sneaking onto the grid in the dying moments of the session, as Derek Bell, Mike Wilds, a surprised Vittorio Brambilla, and Ian Ashley all failed to make the grade. Qualifying Results The full qualifying results for the are outlined below: *T Indicates a driver used their test/spare car to set their best time in that session. *'Bold' indicates a driver's best/qualifying time. ** Times in P1 were given to the nearest tenth of a second. Grid Race Sunday morning would be dlighted by a few organisational issues, starting with poor crowd control and ending with a huge, and ultimately time costing accident in the touring car support race. As such, it was almost an hour later than planned when the Grand Prix cars were finally wheeled out onto the grid, putting the race within the window for rain scheduled later in the day. However, the question of whether that water came in the form of rain or snow was an academic one, for the organisers quickly got the 26 strong field underway with a wave of the Canadian flag. Report Unsurprisingly it was the two s which made the best start, with Niki Lauda immediately sprinting into the first corner ahead of pole sitter Emerson Fittipaldi. Teammate Clay Regazzoni leapt past the second row before duelling with Jody Scheckter into the first corner, ultimately slithering past the around the outside of the corner before chasing after Fittipaldi. The rest of the field made it off the grid without issue, with the usual jostling through the the first lap not resulting in any major damage. The opening lap ended with Lauda, Fittipaldi, Regazzoni and Scheckter running nose-to-tail, ahead of a slightly wound up James Hunt, who had the rest of the top ten bearing down on him. Jean-Pierre Jarier was the closest man to the back of the , with Carlos Reutemann, Carlos Pace, Patrick Depailler and Ronnie Peterson all in the queue. Rolf Stommelen led the rest of the field in a long, already disjointed line in eleventh, although Mario Andretti was causing the all sorts of problems in the new . The following laps saw Lauda drag Fittipaldi away from third placed Regazzoni, prompting Scheckter to force the issue for third and duly elbow the Swiss racer out of the way. Behind, Hunt had the Hesketh dancing around every corner to deny Jarier, although a similar tactic was used by Andretti to move past Stommelen. That move put Jochen Mass on the back of his countryman, with the rest of the action beginning to settle down across the field. After a few dis-interesting laps, Hans-Joachim Stuck caused a stir by entering the pits in the , although three laps later the German became the first retirement after a complete loss of fuel pressure. Chris Amon was also forced into the pits while running at the back of the field, his debut blighted by a sticking throttle that left the Kiwi a resounding last until Stuck's stop. Otherwise the order remained stable, although it was becoming increasingly clear that some drivers had more pace then they were currently showing. The slowly growing tension finally broke on lap nineteen, when Mass threw an optimistic dive at Andretti as the pair came into the tight turn five/six combination. Unfortunately for Mass, Andretti had seen the move coming and decided to block it, and in a desperate attempt to avoid the Parnelli, Mass threw his into a slide before expertly regaining control, albeit behind Denny Hulme. Yet, there was to be a victim of Mass' slide, for John Watson had been forced to take avoiding action as the Yardley McLaren snapped sideways, ultimately having to run his onto the grass. A glancing blow to the guardrail as he did so forced Watson into the pits at the end of the lap, effectively eliminating him from the race as a wave of minor issues plagued the rest of his race. After this release the field settled down again, the only move of note coming when Tom Pryce, quite literally, barged his way past Stommelen as shown by some gouges in the 's nose. Pace and Reutemann, meanwhile, decided to work through the rest of the second group in order to catch the back of Regazzoni, although their charge was halted by excessive tyre wear, forcing both into the pits. Regazzoni himself was running in a lonely fourth, well behind Scheckter, while race leader Lauda was keeping himself outside of Fittipaldi's strike range with relative ease. The status quo among the top four was not to last much past half distance, however, for Scheckter began to feel something wrong with the front brakes on his Tyrrell. After three laps of internal debate as to whether it was worth stopping to tell the Tyrrell team, the South African went flying off the circuit at the turn five/six hairpin and smacked into the barriers. Fortunately, Scheckter escaped the wrecked Tyrrell without injury, with the accident later attributed to a brake failure as the South African had diagnosed. Scheckter's accident and aftermath overshadowed the steady progress of Peterson, who was picking off the rest of the second group one-by-one to move into the top five. The last target in the Swede's sights would be Hunt's Hesketh, although the Brit was proving rather stubborn and kept the at bay until lap 60. Now released, and carrying a bent front wing after contact with Mass when the German misjudged the Swede's attempt to lap him, it was not long before the black-gold car glued itself to the back of Regazzoni, with the pair entering an epic duel for third. Indeed, Peterson was throwing his Lotus at every corner of Mosport Park in his attempts to steal a podium spot, with Regazzoni getting increasingly out of shape as he moved the #11 Ferrari around to block the #1 Lotus. However, before their fight could be concluded, attention suddenly snapped to Watson on lap 69, whose Brabham was seen snapping sideways into turn three after a brake failure. The Brit manage to pull his car across the apex of the corner and lose enough speed to come to a safe stop a few dozen yards later, with the cause of the incident later found to be a suspension failure that had severed a brake pipe. His retirement would not have been news, however, had Lauda not been the next man on the scene, the Austrian plunging into a right hander suddenly coated in dust, grit and brake fluid. Without any warning from the marshals, Lauda entered the turn at full speed before hitting the debris field and duly slithered off the circuit with no control. Few could believe it when the Austrian emerged from the dust cloud on foot, leaving behind the #12 Ferrari with a vary crumpled front end, just in time to see Fittipaldi carefully pick his way through the scene to inherit the lead. Fittipaldi was left with a commanding lead, as Regazzoni and Peterson continued to duel for second, albeit with a brief pause on every tour as the pair came through turn three. Ultimately, Regazzoni managed to get Mark Donohue in the between himself and Peterson before the start of the final lap, a move which the Swiss had made at the risk of losing second to Peterson in the same breath. It took Peterson until the end of the start/finish straight to get ahead of the Penske, although it was enough of a delay to allow Regazzoni to escape. With that the race was run, a jubilant Fittipaldi crossing the line almost a quarter of a minute ahead of the scrap for second, and was greeted by an equally delighted McLaren pit crew. Peterson was a second behind Regazzoni as the pair flashed across the line together, while Hunt was a distant fourth after his exhausting fight with Peterson. Depailler cruised home to fifth ahead of Hulme, who had to call upon his experience in order to deny Andretti's late race charge in the Parnelli. Results The full results for the are outlined below: ** Laffite was still classified despite retiring as he had completed 90% of the race distance. *† Amon and Beltoise, in contrast, could not be classified as they had failed to complete 90% of the race distance. Milestones *Debuts for and as constructors. *Second and final start by Eppie Wietzes. *Derek Bell entered for the sixteenth and final time. *85th and final start by Jean-Pierre Beltoise *Emerson Fittipaldi claimed the last of his six career pole positions. *Fittipaldi earned his twelfth career victory. * triumphed for the twelfth time as a constructor. **Engine supplier powered a car to a 77th win. *Final points scored by Denny Hulme. Standings Victory for Emerson Fittipaldi ensured that the Brazilian racer headed into the United States at the top of the Championship standings, and was the master of his own fate. Victory, or simply beating second placed Clay Regazzoni would be enough for the Brazilian to claim a second World title, with the Swiss racer needing to score one point more than his rival. Jody Scheckter was still in the fight, but would need to win with neither Regazzoni or Fittipaldi finishing in the top five to stand any chance at all. Niki Lauda was out of the fight, slipping fourteen points behind despite claiming nine pole positions, and was now only three points ahead of fifth placed Ronnie Peterson. , like lead driver Fittipaldi, would be masters of their own fate in Watkins Glen, taking a five point lead to the season finale over . The British effort simply had to get one of their three cars onto the podium to take their maiden Championship crown, while the Italians needed to finish first or second with McLaren ideally failing to score. Elsewhere, had effectively secured third, were confirmed in fourth ahead of , while overtook fallen giants for sixth. References Images and Videos: * References: Category:Grand Prix articles Category:1974 Grands Prix Category:Canadian Grand Prix